Poker Face
by Starsa83
Summary: Based on an RP group I'm with, we have a monthly competition where we have to write a story about our characters, this months Theme (November) was death. Set in a bar in the Mojave, Aurora (My Character) is about to find out that her luck has run out...


"Poker Face"

The dust motes floated in the stilling air, moved only by a passing patron of the dimly-lit bar. Tables held drinks and drunks in various states and stages of inebriation from slightly tipsy, to snoring upon their tables in a puddle of their own whiskey-tainted saliva. The stench of unwashed  
Wastelanders, alcohol and stale foods suffused the dusty aroma of the bar itself.

In a corner of the common room of the un-named bar, six players sat around a table playing Poker, each holding their cards close; at least three had a hand that held potential to win. Men of unsavoury values, a Frumentarius in disguise taking a break from Caesar's business, Mercs and others of more Honest means enjoying their ease with a game and drink, and one woman, a pretty brunette in NCR Fatigues on R&R, who smiled at the men from beneath her dusty trooper helmet.

Her hand was sound, a solid spade Royal Flush within her sights. She pushed her entire stack of chips, NCR dollars and caps towards the centre of the table.

"All in." Aurora Cosgrove muttered, her poker face showing no emotion.

The five pairs of eyes darted to her as she smiled thinly, emotionlessly. It was plain in their eyes, was this NCR Trooper toying with them, bluffing? Or did she actually have something worth that stack of chips, dollars and caps?

One of the men, his hat pulled down over his face called her, he had a bigger stack of chips, but it was still equivalent to what she had laid down on the table for her own bet.

Others grumbled as they folded or wondered if their cards were really good enough to take on such a large bet, soon their numbers dwindled to just Aurora and the Mysterious Stranger who sat across from her.

Eyes locked, the heavy half smoked cigar moved around in the Stranger's mouth, Aurora's lips pursed in a sly smile.

They both placed their cards, face up on the old wood of the table, smoothed from two hundred years of use, chipped at the sides, polished with blood, sweat, tears and booze to a shiny surface.

King, Queen, Jack, Ten and Aces of Spades... Each player had exactly the same hand.

"What the fuck is this?" the Mysterious stranger shouted; the frown clear across his face even beneath his broad-brimmed hat. The other patrons of the bar watched as the other players quickly collected chips, cash and caps and departed the table post-haste.

"I am not a cheater, sir." Aurora said quite clearly and loudly, calling him out.

"Nor am I, bitch, but it's obvious that one of us is a cheater here…"he said slowly standing. Aurora stood as well, her hand going for her .44 magnum.

"I'd choose your next move very carefully." Aurora warned, her fingers splaying over the butt of her gun in its holster.

The Stranger smiled darkly from beneath his hat and behind his Cigar. With a move out of a spaghetti western, he upturned the table, scattering the cards, cash, caps and chips to the air and floor.

Aurora drew her gun and fired and the same time as the Stranger.

Her bullet hit its mark. His, a poker chip on the fly.

As the man began to fall, faster than the human eye could see, the bullet from his pistol rippled through the air and connected with the spinning poker chip and sent it flying, right into Aurora's open mouth to lodge itself tightly in the back of her trachea.

She tried to gasp, but she had exhaled when she fired her weapon – just as she had been taught in training - taking down her opponent. She dropped her gun to the floor with a clatter and grasped her throat, eyes wide, looking desperately for help. Everyone in the bar was far too shocked at the scene to even think of moving to help the NCR soldier.

Aurora's mouth opened and closed, no choking sounds were even audible, and the poker chip had made a fantastic seal over her windpipe, better than a hermetic seal on a re-breather apparatus. She staggered as her body screamed out for oxygen, darkness rimming her vision, she stuck her fingers in her mouth to try and dislodge the chip, knowing that panicking would hasten her death, but failing miserably to keep her cool in the face of her demise.

She finally lost consciousness and fell, her hand scrabbling for purchase on anything to keep herself standing upright. She knocked over another table as she fell, liquor, glassware and a plate of pinyon nuts scattered over her as she lay suffocating on a poker chip.

The last thing that Private First Class Aurora Cosgrove heard was someone drunkenly calling out over the hushed silence…

"H-hey… Has anyone seen my caravan deck? It's got d-doubles of the Ace, King, Q-Queen, Jack and Ten of Spades? I had it right here, right here!"

_"Bastards_" her dying thought permeated her fog of death before everything went dark and silent.


End file.
